quarterly digest 50 springsummer.pdftop-notch dowser, raymon grace, will be presenting at...

The American Society of Dowsers Volume 50 • No. 2-3 • Spring/Summer 2010

1DANVILLE, VERMONT

The AMERICAN DOWSER

50 years

QUARTERLY DIGEST

Preambleto the By-Laws of the

American Society of Dowsers, Inc Dowsing is a faculty employed with intent to expand the perceptive abilities of its practitioner beyond three- dimensional limitations. It is a most ancient, varied craft, as ancient and varied as humanity itself. Dowsing has roots, among all manner of peoples, lands, and epochs. There seems to exist an ageless natural knowledge that enables us to identify ourselves with an unknown source of being and becoming; it is of primary significance, joining Earth, sea, and stars. Explanation of dowsing’s whys and wherefores is still far from satisfactory, but to refuse to explore the unexplainable simply because it cannot presently be explained is unscientific and ir-responsible. Dowsing is fact. As awareness grows, the public mind should recognize that, when based on ample training, experience, and talent, dowsing is a most useful skill, applicable to many fields of human activity. Spiritual pride is to be avoided by the dowser. Psychic powers, intellectual aptitudes, or physical skills are useless unless applied for the benefit of all, because they bring increased sensitivity. These may properly be expressed only in an increasing aware-ness of the oneness of all life and in greater love for the whole of humanity. Any activity that investigates, perpetuates, and expands humankind’s lore, mysteries, beliefs, traditions, and useful abilities should command at once loyalty and service. In the energizing of such activity, the power generated in and by a group of interested persons is greater by far than the sum of its numbers. Upon these concepts THE AMERICAN SOCIETY OF DOWSERS, INC. is founded.

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OFFICERS AND BOARD OF TRUSTEES 2009-2011

HEADQUARTERS STAFFOperations Manager: Arvid Johnson [email protected]

Bookstore Manager: Scot Foxx [email protected]/Marketing Director: Verna Beaupre [email protected]

DOUGLAS (MAC) MCILWAINPresident

217 West Main St.West Union, Ohio 45693

[email protected]

ANDY BRAY Treasurer

1577 Main Rd.West Granville, MA 01034

[email protected]

BILL BONNELL481 Lonesome Pine TrailLancaster, Virginia 22503

804.462.5518(h) 804.435.0531(w)[email protected]

CAROL GADER53 Summit Ridge Drive

Keene, New Hampshire 03431603.357.4699

[email protected]

TIPI HALSEYPOB 181

Thetford, Vermont 05074802.785.4978

[email protected]

BRUCE IRWIN223 Athol Rd.

Athol, New York 12810518-623-3772

[email protected]

SANDEE MAC Vice President

PO Box 2217 Lakeside, Arizona 85929

[email protected]

MARTY CAIN Secretary

PO Box 1047Black Mountain, NC 28711

[email protected]

KEITH SCHAFFER1490 Schoffers

Birdsboro, Pennsyvania 19508610.689.5164

[email protected]

ATALA DOROTHY TOY418 Horne St.

St. Charles, Illinois 60174630.584.0864

[email protected]

ADHI TWO OWLS655 E. Posey Rd.

Airville, Pennsylvania 17302267.884.4252 (cell)[email protected]

GEORGE WELLERPO Box 473

Derby Line, Vermont 05830819.876.2528

[email protected]

1Fall 2007

The American Dowser

THE AMERICAN DOWSER Joya Pinkham Clark [email protected]

FALL © 2007 Volumes 47 ~ NO. 4

[email protected]

ASD Bookstore: 802-684-3826

PO Box 24, Danville, VT 05828Phone:802-684-3417

Fax:802-684-2565

THE AMERICAN SOCIETY OF DOWSERS, INC.Headquarters and Bookstore Contact Information:

The American Dowser

HEADQUARTERS STAFFOperations Manager: Arvid Johnson [email protected]

Assistant to the Operations Manager: Scot Foxx [email protected]: Stephanie Gadapee [email protected]

OFFICERS AND BOARD OF TRUSTEES 2007-2009GEORGE WELLER

President POB 473

Derby Line, Vermont 05830 819.876.2528

[email protected]

BRUCE IRWIN Treasurer

223 Athol Rd. Athol, New York 12810

518.623.3772 [email protected]

BESS CUTTER Vice President 800 Dryden St.

Virginia Beach, Virginia 23462 757.335.2100 cell [email protected]

ATALA DOROTHY TOYExecutive Secretary

418 Horne St.St. Charles, Illinois 60174

630-443-9101 or 847.651.1758 cell [email protected]

BILL BONNELL 481 Lonesome Pine TrailLancaster, Virginia 22503

804.462 .5518 (home & fax after six rings) 804.435.0531 (work)

[email protected]

WILL CLARK 26 South Main St #242

Concord, New Hampshire 03301 603.225.6438 or 603.340.2966 cell

[email protected]

MARNA EHRECH POB 958

Shelburne, Vermont 05482-0958 802.985.8378 Fax: 802 985 9385

[email protected]

TIPI HALSEY POB 181

Thetford, Vermont 05074 802.785.4978

[email protected]

KEITH SCHAFFER 1490 Schoffers

Birdsboro, Pennsylvania 19508 610.689.5164

SHEILA WILLIAMS 44 Union St.

Keene, New Hampshire 03431 603.357.4875 home 603.352.0157 work

[email protected]

© 2010 Spring/Summer • Volume 50 ~ No. 2-3

THE AMERICAN SOCIETY OF DOWSERS, INC.Headquarters and Bookstore Contact Information:

PO Box 24, Danville, VT 05828 www.dowsers.org Phone: 802-684-3417 [email protected] Fax: 802-684-2565 ASD Bookstore: 802-684-3417

President’s Comments by Douglas “Mac” McIlwain ........................6Why Go To The ASD Convention? by Annette Weis, Sandi & Tom Ruelke............................................8The Legacy of “Springwater” Bernas: On Living Up To Our Beginnings by Pauline Nobel...............11Editor’s Desk by Cliff Martel/Sybil Carey ........................................14Water for Humanity News by Steve Herbert ................................20Bookstore Happenings by Scot Foxx.............................................27Challenge Yourself: Unlock the Secrets of The Great Serpent Mound...............30 A Stationary Target by Bruce Irwin ...............................................32California Dowser Restores Lake At Over 16,000/GPM by Cliff Martel .............................................................................34The Modern Dowser by J. Scott Elliot .......................................... .37A Memorable Convention by Stanley Bartlett ............................. .53Questing the Illusive Thought-Form by Robert Mermin..............56The Sad Case of The Weeping Twin by Doug McIlwain.............. .64The Dowser Dilemma by Kate Daloz..............................................68

TheAMERICAN DOWSER

DANVILLE, VERMONT

TABLE OF CONTENTS50th Anniversary Issue

This edition of The American Dowser is dedicated to

all of the Sky Dowsers who have preceded us.

Beginner’s Dowsing Column, Entry #2 by Greg Storozuk ..........91Dowsing: A Mini-Course by Greg Storozuk ..................................94How To Dowse A Water Well by Greg Storozuk..............................97Underground Water and Dowsing by Verne L. Cameron..............100Don’t Throw Stones, Dowse ‘Em by Hugh J. Vaughn...................106Serial Killer Foiled By Dowsing by Bruce Irwin..........................109Alhambra Area Resident Locates Graves By Dowsing by Mary L Heeren.................................................................111Diverging Views About Dowsing by Jim Kuebelbeck..................115Dowsing Foods by J.Ashley...........................................................121Can One Dowse For Future Events? by Dr. Z.V. Harvalik and Theodore Baitch ..............................124Energy Vortices by Madis Senner...................................................126Science Corner by Ronald F. Blackburn, Ph.D..............................133ASD Chapter Directory ............................................................136Dowsing Results–Ohio Serpent Mound, May 1981.............146Futuristics by G. Donald Ingebretson ............................................149

TABLE OF CONTENTS50th Anniversary Issue

Notice of Annual Membership Meeting

The Annual Membership Meeting of the American Society of Dowsers

will be held in the Alexander Twilight Theater

at Lyndon State College, Lyndonville, VT, at 8:00 PM, Friday, June 11, 2010.

Articles with this tag on the title are reprinted from past issues of the Digest.

Looking Back...

TRUSTEES EX-OFFICIO (PAST PRESIDENTS)

* ROBERT S. PLIMPTON Storrs, CT

* GALEN O. HUTCHISON Brandon, VT

* DONALD BOYER* GORDON MACLEAN

So. Portland, ME

* JOHN SHELLEY, JR. Lewiston, ME

* NORMAN LEIGHTON Portland, ME

* T. EDWARD ROSS St. Davids, PA

* PAUL J. SEVIGNY Danville, VT

* DWIN A. GORDON Portland, ME

GREG STOROZUK 5719 W.26th Ave., Edgewater; CO 80214 303.274.4158

JIM PERKINS 1023 Cooper Dr., Ashland, OH 44805 419.289.6607

HAROLD MCCOY 13025 S. White House Rd., Fayetteville, AR 72702

501.643.3401

GORDON BARTON 49 Grindstone Ave., Box 6, Winter Harbor, ME 04693

207.963.5801

JOAN MCFARLANE (Interim) 2235 Ross Drive, Auburn, CA 95602 530.878.2554

WALTER WOODS 27 Myrtle Drive, Oroville, CA 95966-5510 530.533.3986

E.W. (TONY) GEHRINGER 4208 Escondido Lane, Las Cruces, NM 88005 505.541.4565

LEROY BULL 16 Belmont Square, Doylestown, PA 18901 215.348.8286

* BARRY A. SMITH San Jose, CA 95135

BILL NORTHERN POB 986, Warsaw, VA 22572 804.333.4802

TIPI HALSEY (Interim) POB 181 Thetford, Vermont 050074 802.785.4978

GEORGE WELLER POB Box 473, Derby Line, Vermont 05830 819.876.2528

* Deceased

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The American DowserGUIDELINES FOR SUBMISSIONS

We like to hear from you, our readers. In fact, we depend on you for the content of this journal and appreciate everything you send us. The following guidelines concerning submissions will help you to help us produce ASD’s publication. Thank you!

About Articles1. Content of articles should be about or related to dowsing and how the ancient art can help improve life, whether it’s in your own backyard or around the globe.2. In the subject line of all email submissions, include the word Submission and the Author and Title of Your Article (i.e., Submission: Smith, How To Dowse). 3. Submit your manuscript in Microsoft Word, font Times New Roman, and font size 12.4. We encourage you to digitally submit manuscripts, photographs and art as email attachments. Send them to: [email protected] or [email protected], or if you’re using mail, to: Editors, PO Box 24, Danville, VT 05828. 5. Include appropriate captions for photos. All artwork must be con- verted to .jpg or .tif format and be at least 300dpi (dots per inch). Use original art whenever possible.6. When submitting an article published in a newspaper or magazine, you must attach to the article a permission release from the publisher permitting ASD to reprint it.7. All submissions should be spell-checked and thoroughly proofread before you send them.8. Submissions which are not used in one issue are forwarded to the editors of subsequent issues for consideration.

Editors (Spring/Summer):

Cliff Martel Sybil Carey

Managing Editor: Sybil Carey

TheAMERICAN DOWSERQUARTERLY DIGESTAt the time of publication,

several new Regional Vice Presidents are being ap-pointed. Please check our website (www.dowsers.org) for an announcement of the updated roster.


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he Board of Trustees has successfully completed a lot of important tasks during the winter months. We learned that ASD remains financially sound. Other good news is that our Society is named beneficiary to a significant trust. Our dowser specialty list is ready to go, and we are working on developing our website further. Things are looking up!

Headquarters has undergone repairs and will be show-cased during our 2010 Convention in June in Lyndonville. Also on a high note, our hardworking convention committee has lined up great presenters for convention. Top-notch dowser, Raymon Grace, will be presenting at convention, and Jeffery Mishlove, Ph.D., will be our keynote speaker. For many years, Jeff aired the PBS show, Thinking Allowed. Jeff is the author of The PK Man, the story of the paranormal phenom, Ted Owens, who could create hurricanes at will.

Many members reserved their place early at what will be an exciting and extraordinary 50th Anniversary celebration at Lyndonville. If you haven’t already done so, call now to register. This is one you don’t want to miss! We hope to see you there.

Indago Felix

T

PRESIDENT’S COMMENTS

by Douglas “Mac” McIlwain

Remember, this is your Society...See you at Convention!

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American Society Of Dowsers

50th Annual International Dowsers Convention

June 9 – June 14, 2010 Lyndon State College

Lyndonville, Vermont

Celebrating

50 Years of ASD Conventions

Schools - June 9 & 10

Pre-Convention Workshops - June 9 & 10

Opening Ceremonies - Evening of June 10

Convention - June 11,12 & 13

Post-Convention Workshops - June 14

For details about workshops, lodging, and to register, go on-line at: www.dowsers.org


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WHY GO TO THE ASD CONVENTION? What Will I Do There?

hese are questions we often receive, and not just from new members. If you’ve never been to an ASD Convention, this is a great year to start – our 50th Anniversary Convention! Our theme, Dowsing: Technology for the 21st Century, was selected because it portrays where ASD expects to be in the future. You can start with two pre-convention days of schools and workshops. This year, we’ve added an Intermediate Dowsing School for people who have had some experience with dowsing but aren’t quite ready for the Advanced School. For newcomers and anyone who has never taken a Basic Course in dowsing, ASD offers one of the most extensive courses available. Not interested in a school? Take a look at the workshops we are offering this year! Each one is under a leader experienced in his or her field, and a leader ready to teach. Okay, so what about the convention itself? Well, it starts on Thursday evening, June 10th, with Opening Ceremonies by Doug Gray. This will be followed by an exciting program called “The Great Awakening” with Zacciah Blackburn. Then have some light refreshments with everyone who has already arrived on campus, and eventually try to get some rest for four more activi-ty-filled and intellectually stimulating days and nights. June 11, 12, and 13 are packed with more than 60 speak-ers, covering topics that members have told us interest them. In keeping with our theme, we will explore dowsing as it relates to time-honored traditional and scientific thinking, as well as the mysteries beyond the physical. From basic dowsing focused on water, earth energies, science panels, and health and wellbeing, to the more esoteric applications of the art, such as qigong, feng shui, EMFs, clairvoyance, and crystal skulls–there will be some-thing for everyone. If you wonder how dowsing can help you live your life with more clarity, you’ll surely find some answers that work for you. The workshops will be inclusive of dowsing at all

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levels of experience. Have we already got you excited, enthused, and laughing? Good – that’s part of coming to an ASD Conven-tion. Several sessions will be mini-workshops and experien-tial; others will have you filling your notebooks with facts, theo-ries, and new ideas to explore. Three different panels are being planned, a few double sessions for in-depth study, and three field trips. Each day has four speaking periods with six speakers to choose from in each period. We know, it’s enough to make your head spin, but dowsers love it! During convention, you will have an opportunity to hear all three post-convention workshop leaders: John Wayne Blass-ingame; Dr. Jeffrey Mishlove, our keynote speaker; and Raymon Grace. And we’ll be back in our old stomping grounds near Dan-ville, the home of ASD. A special visit to our headquarters there will be included in the schedule. If any of this interests you…. you know what to do! Fill in the registration form or call 802-684-3417 and join us for Dows-ing: Technology for the 21st Century.

Annette Weis, Sandi & Tom Ruelke,Co-chairs of The ASD 2010 Convention Committee

As we celebrate our history this year, we would like to honor at convention all current members who have been members for 20 years or more. Please contact us via e-mail ([email protected]), or call 1-802-684-3417, with the following information:

• Name, Address, Phone, E-mail (if any)• Your cumulative number of years as a member of ASD.

Our records have some gaps in them, especially among our early membership. To guarantee that no one is left out, we’d like your help. Please step forward and contact us so we may recognize you and offer you our gratitude for your long-time support of ASD.

Calling All 20-Plus Year ASD Members


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1958DOWSING FEATURED

AT VERMONT FOLIAGE FESTIVAL

In the fall of 1958, about 50 visitors were drawn to Danville, Vermont, for a one-day meeting billed as a “National Dowsing Convention.” The event was sponsored by a local committee as a feature designed to attract tourists to the area’s Foliage Festival. Wire services picked up the announcement as an oddity and gave the meeting wide publication on the eastern seaboard. The result is history. The news item at-tracted a fine crowd, mostly dowsers, who came from eight states to swap knowledge and demonstrate all manner of dowsing devices. The visitors, quite liter-ally, had to create their own program that day. In so doing, they realized that probably never before had so many met in this country just to talk about dowsing. A bond of common interest was felt that day, result-ing in commitments for meetings in 1959 and 1960, and still another in 1961 when the ASD was officially incorporated. Each year, interest and attendance has grown. In recent years, ASD conventions have at-tracted thousands of visitors and educated hundreds of students in dowsing schools, seminars, and presen-tations.

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Looking Back...

The following editorial first appeared in the May, 1981 issue of The American Dowser, Vol. 21 #2. We think you will agree that it speaks to the very heart of our Society, and encourages us never to compromise our values or our enthusiasm in our quest for truth. Pauline Nobel, an ASD Trustee in the 1980’s and editor of the May, 1981 issue, was married to Dr. Werner Nobel, also a former Trust-ee during the ‘70’s. Pauline’s words, plus the words of past ASD President Galen Hutchison, follow.

I have a deep regard for the men who founded our Society, and who for two decades imbued it with their high motives and generous spirit. And I am glad that some of them remain to play a part in maintaining that spirit and in refreshing our awareness of our spiritual heritage.

So it was with a sense of privilege that I welcomed an ex-change of letters with Senior Counsel and Past President Galen O. Hutchison in which he sought to convey the character of our beginnings and his hope that the ethos of ASD could be kept fresh and alive into the future. With his permission, I would like to share this part of his letter with all of you:

"I am going to have to ask you to bear with me while I give you a bit of ASD background about which very, very few present day [1981] members of ASD have any knowledge.

"The Town of Danville, Vermont, is bordered on the north by the Town of Wheelock. In Wheelock about the year 1800 was born one Bezaleel Bernas. As a youth he learned how to make water pipes and pumps. He also discovered he was an able and re-liable dowser. Pipes were made of wood, and pumps were a great sanitary improvement over the old open wells. A man who had the tools and knowledge could make a good living.

THE LEGACY OF “SPRINGWATER” BERNASOn Living Up To Our Beginnings


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"Bernas started about 1820 with a horse and wagon of his own. He quickly made a name for himself as an extremely com-petent dowser and water technician. For over 50 years he was busy finding water and making pumps and pipe for the settlers. He charged 50 cents for a pump and 2 cents a foot for pipe, if you supplied your own logs.

"From Wheelock he covered a territory in Vermont ex-tending north to Newport, west to Waterbury and as far south as Woodstock. Unusual for a man of his time (as well as today) he drank only water, the best of spring water. As he traveled he saw the need along the roads for watering places for man and beast; he approached his congressman with a plan but he was laughed at.

"So for a few pennies he bought old barrels which he cut in two to make tubs. Wherever he went he would find a spring in a likely place, make a turnout in the road, set up the tub, and pipe water to it. He dotted the area of his travels with these oases and would tack a Bible verse to a board over the tub. He was known throughout his territory as "Springwater" Bernas. One of his fa-mous springs was the All-Wright Spring on the North Danville Road; it was still functioning in 1961 when ASD was incorporat-ed, but may since have been destroyed by road construction.

"Springwater Bernas was a professional dowser, an artist with a hazel stick, a tough practical water technician and also a most humane, kind, charitable, beautiful human being. Stalwart professionalism balanced by essential goodness and beauty. He was the dowsing "hero" and inspiration for founders of ASD, and as such is part of the tradition of ASD.

"It is reported that the most competent scientists admit to combining conscious rational thinking with intuition; that the best of science comes from a balance between the two; that man, as knower, always knows by means of the interaction within him-self of both poetic and logistic principles. Blaise Pascal (1623-1662), who laid the foundations of the 'Age of Reason', said: 'The

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heart has its reasons that reason does not know. It is by the heart that we know the first principles, and reason must rest on the per-ceptions of the heart and instinct.

"ASD has from its beginnings recognized the need for the traditionally 'feminine' virtues of compassion, sensitivity, intuition and beauty to balance 'Science' and the excesses of the industrial age."

Thank you, Galen, for reminding us.

–Pauline Nobel

Whether it be insights into galaxies light years away or insights into the eternal quest for essential, life-sup-porting water, dowsers and the dows-ing method will always be more effi-cient, less expensive, and every bit as effective as the most sophisticated in-strumentations of modern science.

– G. Donald Ingebretson


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EDITOR’S DESK

ll of life is one, there is no exception. These words from Scottish sensitive, Alick McInnes, may hold a key truth under-lying the science of dowsing. Blindfolded, McInnes could hold his hand over a ripe bloom and tell from the wavelength of its radiation just what plant it was and what its medicinal proper-ties might be. Yet, is this not what dowsers, especially advanced dowsers, do? Read radiations? On page 56 of this issue of The American Dowser, a young mime, Rob Mermin, recounts being startled midway through a mime performance when he actually felt his hand “touch” one of his thoughtform walls. He knew he was a promising young mime, but he didn’t know he was that good! Rob was also a promising young dowser. A member of the ASD, this student of dowsing also experimented successfully with noxious rays that had been causing health problems as they passed under a friend’s bed. From the ASD Dowsing Schools, Rob knew to place a wire around the base of the bed to attenuate the radiations. He did so, and lo and behold, it worked! Now with his creative mind racing ahead of him, he removed the wire from the bed and the offending radiations returned. Next, as he had been taught in Danville, Rob placed a smaller wire around a sim-ple drawing of his friend’s bed. Again, success! The location was cleared. When I reached this point in my first reading of Rob’s sto-ry, memories of a conversation with Terry Ross surfaced in my mind. “Why not approach the offending energy with respect and

Sybil C

arey

Cliff Martel

A

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a firm intention that the noxious flow simply move slightly so it can coexist in harmony with the occupant of the bed?” A founder and past President of ASD, T. Edward (“Terry”) Ross explained that, after receiving permission, dowsers should approach any dowsing task with sincerity and a genuine affection for a positive outcome. As dowsers, we can, with practice, consciously resonate with any part of creation at any time from anywhere. Water, oil, gas, minerals, plants, animals or humans, advanced dowsers know that making the connection is a matter of having a working knowledge of the field of query, asking a series of unambiguous questions, and following the answers to the truth. Rolly Moore and Dwin Gordon, a colorful Maine dows-ing team, discovered that water veins will cooperate with us if we wish. In their “house waterproofing ventures,” they often used wooden stakes to mark water veins heading toward a house, then dealt with the intrusion inside the basement with various tech-niques and sealers. To mark the veins they found by dowsing, they would use an iron bar with a cross-arm “T” welded to the top. After making a hole in the ground with the iron bar, a wood-en stake would be inserted to mark the vein. On one fortuitous occasion the iron bar became stuck, and would not release from the soil. Not one to take “no” for an answer, Dwin employed his long-handled sledgehammer to whack the bar loose. It took some hefty hits before it came loose, and a thought struck Dwin to question whether or not the violent vibrations might have some-how affected the vein. To his amazement, his dowsing indicated that the vein had rerouted itself a full ninety degrees toward the direction in which he was hammering. It was as if the vein was a croquet ball that went exactly where he was directing it with his sledge. Thus was born the amazing technique of Water Vein Di-version. Today, proven by dowsers thousands of times over, this procedure is used to divert veins away from wet cellars, to divert contaminated contributory veins away from a well, or to add a vein of pure water to a well in order to augment its production. What if a vein in need of diversion was approached with sincerity and genuine affection and simply requested to move in


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the desired direction? At a presentation in the gymnasium of Lyndonville State College at one of our annual conventions, Terry Ross was asked by a woman from Rhode Island if there was any-thing that could be done for her wet basement problem. Terry said, “I don’t know. Let’s see.” He took out his pendulum and silently searched for details and solutions while standing at the podium. After what seemed less than a minute, he looked up and said, “Good news. When you return home you will find no more water entering your basement. It was a strong vein and was happy to move.” So there you have it – sincerity, respect, affection… and a complete lack of ego. It would appear that the desire or intent in our mind can have a significant effect in the world of matter. Another story in this 50thAnniversary Edition of The Amer-ican Dowser is told by Bruce Irwin, an ASD Trustee and former apprentice to the late Ted Kaufman. It outlines a harrowing inci-dent in which Ted, a former New York PR man transplanted to the Adirondacks, discovers dowsing while trying to avoid cross-ing paths with a serial killer (see page 109). This incident also launched Ted on a second career that became a central focus in his life – locating lost people, at-large criminals, pets, and prop-erty. He was so surprised at his new gift and became so good at it that each morning he would enter his bathroom, look into the mirror and say, “Why me, God? Why me?” After which he would express sincere thanks. Many of our members will remember Ted’s famous dows-ing search for a Lake George, NY, father and son duo reported missing after a trip to the store for milk. Mr. Kaufman’s pendu-lum indicated that they were not alive, that they had taken their truck onto the 32-mile lake and broken through the ice. He even pinpointed where they would be found. After a good laugh, the police department soon gave up their investigation until spring-time, when a red parka washed up on shore not far from where Ted had indicated. With magically transformed interest, the po-lice enlisted Ted’s aid and took him, by boat, to a place where he once again indicated, by dowsing, where the missing pair would be found. An anchor was dropped with a floating buoy to mark the spot for divers. With divers employed the following day, the

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truck was found with the father’s body in it; the second body was found not far away. As for the buoy anchor used to mark the spot, it was sitting in the bed of the truck. In an eerily similar case that this writer reported in the newsletter of our Granite State Dowsers chapter (now inactive), I had called for Ted’s assistance finding a college student reported missing in Henniker, New Hampshire. Long story short, Ted’s written report, map-dowsed from his kitchen table in North Riv-er, New York, stated that PJ Silverman’s body could be found… “in the West end of Middle Pond, in Henniker.” Regretfully, The Henniker Police Department declined to follow up on the report, allegedly because they had already searched the pond area and felt that further investigation on a freshly frozen pond could com-promise the safety of their officers. Three months later New Hampshire’s statewide newspa-per, The Manchester Union Leader, reported the news with a pic-ture of the found student and the headline, “PJ’s Body Found.” The location in the article matched the words in Ted’s report exactly: “… in the West end of Middle Pond, in Henniker.” Once again, the dowser, although hundreds of miles away from his target, harboring heart-felt compassion for the distraught family, applied a series of carefully crafted questions to resonate with the location of the missing student. It seems to be more and more apparent that“We are all one.” In the closing pages of Christopher Bird’s seminal work, The Divining Hand, he quotes Tom Bearden, a retired U.S. Army officer from Huntsville, Alabama. “Any thought about an object, whether present or missing, is as physical and solid in the mind universe as the same objects are in the physical world… dowsers are only detecting their selves, entities which include the whole of the known universe…” Bearden further posits that, “…a new sci-ence must emerge to unite mind with matter, and believes dows-ing can point the way to this union. One. There is no exception.

–CRM, Ed.

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The American Society of Dowsers Volume 49 • No. 1 • Winter 2008-09

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ters (802-684-3417) to send hard copies to you. We now have an ASD Trust Fund that was set up formally a year ago where only a limited amount can be used each year, with the rest left to grow. The more that is in it, the more financially secure is our organiza-tion.

On a lighter side, northern New England had the best col-ors in several years this fall. “Leaf peepers” were out in full force for several weeks. Flying over the area in my small plane, it looked like the world was made up for Halloween with a carpet of reds, yellows and oranges. Last night as we were finishing work on our farm, the sunset was spectacular. It looked like the mountains to the west were engulfed in fire for a few moments. The lower sky was clear and bright red around, but not to the top of, the moun-tains. Above was an overcast cloud layer. What a beautiful sand-wich! We are blessed with a really beautiful landscape and planet on which to live.

And now a repeat from last issue, here is a pitch for ASD trusteeship. How about running for Trustee? Elections are com-ing up. Are you able to spend some time steering ASD to new heights in the future? Do you have ideas that you would like to see implemented? Then please consider running for Trustee.

Linking. Do you know of organizations that you think ASD should link web pages with? Linking can be beneficial to both organizations. Check out our website at www.dowsers.org to see where we have linked already. If you have suggestions, please send them to me ([email protected]) or to our Operations Manager, Arvid Johnson, at [email protected].

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t’s a particular joy, as part of this special issue of The Amer-ican Dowser, to be able to revisit some of our elders’ wisdom from years past. I was especially moved by Pauline Nobel’s eloquent 1981 editorial in which she recalls the legacy of our organization’s spiritual heritage. If you haven’t already done so, I urge you to turn back to page 11 and read it. Thinking about the convention theme of the approaching historic 50th celebration–Dowsing: Technology for the 21st Cen-tury–I realize that while technology offers much that is good, I often find myself casting a negative connotation onto it. Too of-ten it makes demands that I would rather not incorporate into an already busy schedule. For example, while a computer and WIFI and a cell phone make life easier in many ways, they also add a constant source of immediacy and complexity to life, along with a projected need to have more/do more/know more/hurry more–and that’s just to stay current. The push of technology has a lot in common with a treadmill–the faster I go, the “behinder“ I get. And that doesn’t even address the prevalence of EMF pollution. While technology can be seductive with its increasingly sophisti-cated tools which are frequently designed to do our work for us, it can simultaneously lead us farther away from ourselves, away from our inner knowing. Our “dowser” selves. Technology is defined as “a method or methodology that applies technical knowledge or tools.” Inherent in our convention theme is a new usage of the word, one that adds simplicity and honoring inner wisdom to its list of definitions. Dowsers under-stand through experience that the ancient art of dowsing is a tool important enough to become widely recognized as a valid and practical technology for the modern world. How, then, do dows-ing and technology blend, and how are they at odds in today’s world? Indeed, the two can be merged harmoniously; yet mind-fulness is required to maintain the balance between left-brained, high-concept technology and right-brained dowsing simplicity. I frequently find myself asking if technology works as a tool for me, or if I work for it, sometimes becoming enslaved by its demands.

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I know from conversations with some of you that we have similar concerns, and I admit that it’s a confusing issue that poses questions for us as individuals and as an organization. From the past, Pauline’s voice speaks to this conflict, not as a call to arms, but instead, as a call to heart. This 50th anni-versary marks an appropriate milestone for reflection on where ASD has been and where, as a body, it wants to go. What is ASD’s mission as the organization moves forward into the next half cen-tury of dowsing education and experiences? Do we have a clear goal? Do we intend to be heart-centered leaders and educators in our high-tech world? If so, are we training the next generation of disciplined dowsers? Are we here to be of service, or are we here to find a marketplace? How can we gather the best of our beginnings to carry us into the future? And how do we keep a firm grip on our quest for truth and our ethical values as expand-ing technology, conventionally defined, continues its fast-paced march through our lives? Dowsers have the potential to harmoniously serve our communities and the larger world, using all of the tools at our disposal–tools including both the material and the spiritual. It is important to keep the two in balance. When we meet in our chap-ters and at regional events and the annual convention, it is clear that we are embraced by many teachers and leaders who hold a vision of dowsing as a simple, effective technology, and who en-courage us both to trust and to use discernment in our dowsing. We have a place here to expand our reach–to learn and work and grow–and as always, the tools we choose are up to each of us. As we move forward, Pauline Nobel’s words, and those of Galen Huchison, remind us that compassion, sensitivity, intuition, and beauty are principles upon which the ASD was founded. Let us stay true to the trust handed to us by our founders and shep-herd it wisely. Let us remain conscious of our higher goals so that “heart” remains the center of who we are.

–SC, Ed.

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W ater For Humanity is an organization operating under the auspices of the ASD, with the purpose of funding water resources development worldwide (www.dowsers.org/Wfh.htm).

WATER FOR HUMANITY NEWS

An Update From Steven Herbert

WFH E-Newsletter The Water for Humanity Committee is pleased to inform the ASD membership that in addition to its reports in the quar-terly digest, a bimonthly E-Newsletter is also being offered. This has the advantage of not having the space restrictions of the Di-gest and the ability to give ASD members fuller reporting as well providing more photos, all in color. Please look for it in your email near the beginning of every even numbered month as a forward from ASD.

Financial Report for 2009 Total incoming funds from donations, raffle and sales were $22,293.69. This figure includes a total of $19,347.00 for donations alone (thus $2,946.69 from raffle & sales), of which the amount of $7,560.00 was donated to restricted funds (thus $11,787.00 to general funds). Total deposits plus interest of $17.50 plus stock dividends of $1,000 added up to a total income of $23,311.19. Total outgoing funds were $23,929.48 for grants & projects and $389.48 in office expenses and fees for transfer of funds, plus $350 for purchase of more Tee-shirts for sale, totaling $24,668.96. Op-erating and office expenses were 1.58% of total outgoing (3.0% in-cluding the Tee-shirt purchase).

Volunteer Travels and Projects WFH Appropriate Technology Advisor Mark Fulford has

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just returned from China where he consulted with rural farmers about how to conserve water in growing rice. Former WFH com-mittee member Silvana Castillo is planning a trip to Bolivia to work with the organization Jarana, which received funding from WFH in 2006 to purchase drilling equipment. WFH Secretary Steve Herbert is planning a trip to Kenya to work with the organi-zations World Partners in Education and Expanding Opportuni-ties which have received WFH funding for a dug well, a rainwater harvesting system, and a composting latrine. Their reports will appear soon.

Help for Haiti As you all are well aware, Haiti was struck by a 7.0 earth-quake on Tuesday, January 12th, 2010. ASD member Richard Roy has been there many times to do trainings and conduct water re-sources development projects with the organization Les Artisans de Paix Internationale, with the support of WFH funding. Rich-ard laments that many of the people he worked with were victims of the quake and that the equipment he had accumulated for this work was destroyed when the building it was stored in collapsed. Water for Humanity is creating a restricted fund for Haiti relief and appealing for donations specifically for Richard to re-equip in order to do his desperately needed work.

WFH February Meeting The WFH Committee’s February meeting to allocate funds to new projects will be reported promptly in the E-Newsletter and in the next Digest.

Availability of Water for Humanity Tee-shirts WFH Tee-shirts in blue with the logo in white on the front are available in sizes from Small to 2X. To order, contact Steve by email at [email protected], by phone at (603) 616-7872, or by mail c/o ASD Headquarters. The price is $14.00 each. Ship-ping is $3.40 for one and $4.95 for two; for more than two, call or email Steve for the correct shipping amount to your zip code. Your check may be made payable to Water for Humanity Fund,


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and sent to Water for Humanity in care of the American Society of Dowsers, P.O. Box 24, Danville, VT 05828.

Project Reports

Sirumali Evergreen MultipurposeCommunity Development Society (Simcodes)

Secretary’s Note: Sirumalai Evergreen Multipurpose Commu-nity Development Society (SIMCODES) is a rural development organization and center for sustainable agriculture in the south-ern Indian state of Tamil Nadu. We received our first unsolicited proposal from them on January 20, 2004, requesting $2,233 for one bore well, electric pump, tank and piping for the center for sus-tainable agriculture. On April 15th of the same year, we received a second unsolicited proposal by regular mail, requesting $3,109 for one bore well and hand pump in each of five villages ($622 per well). At a teleconference of the WFH Committee held on April 8, 2008, the second of these two proposals was considered and a partial grant of $1,244 was awarded to fund the first two of these wells. Their project completion report follows, and four more wells await funding.

Program Implementation Report November 24, 2009

Project Title: Bore WellSanction No. April 21st, 2008

Focused Area: Dindigul Block of Dindigul District, Tamil Nadu, India Panchayats A. Velodu Village A. Velodu Panchayats Mullpadi Village Kulandaipatti

Theme:

Extending support bore wells in the resource-poor rural environment with the participation communities.

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Components of Activities: 1. Trainings

2. Support of bore well installation

Background Information:

The villages targeted receive scanty and minimal rainfall each year and are largely drought prone. The security of the vil-lagers’ livestock is at stake because of ground water depletion and movement to deeper areas. For drinking water, the rural mass-es have to travel two to three kilometers either on bicycles or to collect it as head load. The water resource is scarce and in these circumstances it was addressed to Water for Humanity Fund The American Society of Dowsers, USA, and the community achieved a small grant support for the aforesaid activities to be rendered by SIMCODES.

A completed village bore well with India Mark II hand pump in the southern Indian state of Tamil Nadu. The project was conducted by the organization SIMCODES with funding from WFH.


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Activities Description: 1. Trainings The Self-Help Group (SHG) members were targeted for easier dissemination of water conservation, water sustainable uti-lization and management, contribution in green cover initiation and reforestation of endemic plants and trees, hand pump use and maintenance, rainwater conservation and harvesting, com-munity participatory promotion of watershed management and bore well installation in targeted selected points. All these points were taken as components of training.

A suitable resource person with adequate experience with rural communities and the theme was identified and prepared the training manual.

The SHG leaders were identified and training was pro-vided to 60 leaders in three batches. They were sensitized on the need of dissipating the knowledge and skills acquired to the mem-

A training conducted by the organization SIMCODES in Tamil Nadu, India, for a women’s Self Help Group in pump maintenance and repair, and in water conservation and hygiene. Such trainings ensure the sus-tainability of the project.

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bers and the rural communities, and in turn at their village level and the level of SHG meetings.

The trained leaders in turn cooperated and coordinated with SIMCODES to identify points of bore well installation and outsourced the local contribution. 2. Support of bore well installation

On the identified two selected points before the start of in-stallation, posters and plug-cards were disseminated to the public and inaugurated the installation. With the available fund provi-sion and with the contribution of the communities outsourced by the trained SHG leaders, the installation was made successfully.

The long time quench of the communities on the drink-ing water and animal husbandry was answered. The communities were thankful to the sponsoring Water for Humanity Fund, The American Society of Dowsers, USA. Only because of them has their long awaited demand been answered.

Thanking you with kind regards.

Sincerely, Mrs. A. Rose, Director, SIMCODES

Joint Action For Social MissionInnovation Networking And Education Society

(JASMINE Society)

Secretary’s Note: On June 6th, 2008, we received a solicited pro-posal from this organization requesting $5,478 for the construction of 30 household rainwater harvesting systems within 12 villages ($182 per system). At its convention meeting on August 10, 2008, a partial grant of $915 was approved for the first five of these. Photos on the next page show the proud and grateful owners.


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Recipients stand beside their respective completed household rainwater harvesting systems in the southern Indian state of Tamil Nadu. The proj-ect, consisting of five such systems, was conducted by the organization JASMINE Society.

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W

BOOKSTORE HAPPENINGS

Bookstore Manager – Scot Foxx [email protected]

elcome one and all! You will find our Bookstore to be a veritable world of treasures. You’ll find books on virtually every as-pect of water dowsing, some penned by the world’s most renowned dowsers. Our books can transport you to the outer limits of en-ergy dowsing, spiritual dowsing, health, earth energies, quantum physics, metaphysics and beyond. You will also find pendulums, L-rods, Y-rods, bobbers, aurameters, and other dowsing tools as well as the entire ASD video library which is now available on DVD. Or-dering is easy. Just go to www.dowsers.org and click on Bookstore.

Thanks to the support of our members, the bookstore continues to do well. As another year came and went, the 2009 total bookstore sales equaled $61,843.77. The cost of goods sold (which is the cost that the bookstore pays for the items it sells) was $33,438.41, which gives us a total bookstore profit of $28,405.36. The 2009 budget for bookstore profit was projected at $26,280.00, which means that the bookstore earned $2,125.36 over budget. So thanks again to everyone who made a purchase last year and made it possible for us to end the year in the black. As always, the bookstore is looking for new books and tools, so if anyone out there knows of a book that other dowsers would benefit from reading, please let us know. If there are folks out there who are making tools and would like the bookstore to consider selling them, please send a sample to headquarters for consideration. It is my understanding that, in the past, ASD members al-ways received a 10% discount when making bookstore purchases. This practice was stopped during the years of financial turmoil, and everyone was given a one-time use coupon for 10% off in-stead. It is my belief that ASD and the bookstore are financially solvent enough again to reinstate this policy.


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Therefore, on a temporary trial basis, I am issuing a gen-eral password to the membership which allows all who use it to receive a 10% discount off all bookstore purchases. However, if this password is abused and given out to non-ASD members, this trial will end and we‘ll return to the current system. NOTE: This cannot be used to purchase membership or convention items. Your coupon code is: MEMBERSHIP I would like to remind all lifetime members that they re-ceive a 15% discount on their purchases, so please make sure you tell us if you are a lifetime member so that we can apply the dis-count to your order. On the same note, chapters also receive 15% off chapter purchases, so that chapters can purchase supplies and resell them to earn money for the chapter.

LEARN TO DOWSE! Throughout the year across America, dowsers of every de-scription come together in local ASD Chapter meetings to practice, to learn new techniques and to renew old friendships. Newcomers are always welcome and are quickly taught the basics of this valuable and exciting new skill. They learn how to find water, lost people, missing objects, minerals, oil, gemstones, remedies, better health, environmental energies and much, much more. Our dowsers range from engineers to housewives, from drillers to businessmen, from contractors to students and teachers. You name it. Anyone can learn to dowse. If you think that you or someone you know would like to learn more about dowsing, contact the nearest ASD Chapter in your state. If our nearest chapter is hundreds of miles away, call our Na-tional Headquarters in Danville, Vermont, and we’ll introduce you to one or more of our members located closer to you. Often these initial contacts are the start of something big – like a completely new chapter! We’ll be happy to show you the steps.

Call ASD Today (802) 684-3417

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Come one, come all! Join us this summer for a great time at the University of California, Santa Cruz where dowsers from all over come to learn and have fun!

www.dowserswestcoast.orgKaren (415) 564-6419 or [email protected]

WEST COAST dOWSing COnfErEnCE

Santa Cruz, CA , July 2-7, 2010

“Dowsing: Ancient Tool for Modern Times”

— presenters, schools, workshops, youth program and more

…it’s dawn-to-dusk dowsing!

Our keynote speaker is Gladys McCoy


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Looking Back...

CHALLENGE YOURSELFUnlock the Secrets of The Great Serpent Mound

WARNING! If you want to test your map-dowsing skills, DO NOT view pages 146-147 of this issue until after you have performed this Dowsing Challenge, for on those pages you will find the responses to the original map dowsing challenge as re-vealed in February of the year 1981 in the pages of The American Dowser.

A founding father, past president and master dowser of the ASD, Terry Ross, in 1980, visited the Ohio Dowsers Chapter of the ASD, and later returned with stacks of information about Loudon, Ohio’s most famous archeological enigma–The Great Serpent Mound. During that year, two sets of questions were ad-dressed to our membership:

1. Are there any water domes associated with the Serpent Mound? If so, how many, and where are they located?

2. Are there ley lines associated with the Serpent Mound. If so, how many, and where are they located?

The Ohio Dowsers Chapter, led then by Richey Liming, collated the responses. So break out your straight-edge and dowsing tool of choice and test yourself against master dowsers and beginners alike. Then compare your results with those of the 1980 Challenge (see pages 146-147 of this Digest when you have completed your own map dowsing). We welcome your comments and results ([email protected]). Water veins and ley lines may have changed during the last forty years, who knows? Dowsers know!

CHALLENGE YOURSELFUnlock the Secrets of The Great Serpent Mound

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THE GREAT SERPENT MOUNDMap by Clark Handman, Jr.

Dowse It Now!


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TA STATIONARY TARGET

by Bruce Irwin

he call came in mid-morning, just as the roofing crew began their noisy work over my head. Celest, a Miami, Florida area resident, had a friend who knew about dowsing. Through an ASD headquarters referral, she had phoned me seeking a dowser’s help. It seems a neighbor had left the screen door to Celest’s porch open earlier that morning, and Tutu, her pet Cockatiel, had flown out, escaping to a dangerous new freedom.

I keep a telephone area-code index by the phone and al-ready knew that I had no maps of this urban land-mass area; so while she was giving me additional descriptive particulars over the phone, I rigged a simple “remote map” by placing a pencil dot in the center of a sheet of blank paper. Programming this dot to represent Celest’s porch, wherever that was, I next marked off the eight standard compass points around the paper’s edge. I began dowsing, holding Celest on the line; time was of the essence. Posi-tioning the pencil and readying the pendulum, I used an “azimuth and distance” map-dowsing technique and received responsive signals that narrowed the compass direction of the escaped bird’s present location at roughly south-by-a-bit-southeast of Celest’s home.

“Is the target stationary now?” I asked. The pendulum re-sponded yes. The cockatiel was sitting.

“Is Tutu perched in a tree?” Yes.

“How many feet above the ground?” Twenty feet was the response.

I drew the SSE direction line from the “porch” dot out to

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the edge of the paper and began mentally walking along this azi-muth line, keeping Tutu’s name, color phase, and description in mind and asking the pendulum to signal when I was the correct distance in yards to the pet’s perch location.

“One hundred yards? Two hundred? Five hundred…? Yes. Approximately five hundred yards from the porch.

“Is Tutu still a stationary target?” Yes.

With this information now in hand, we ended the call, and Celest and her friend immediately went looking. I returned to my ongoing roofing project, though I stayed within earshot of the phone for any follow-up request.

The phone rang a scant hour or so later, and it was Celest. She was crying. Fears began playing their macomber sickness into my mind. Had Tutu been found squashed in the road? But her follow-up call had come so quickly…

However, her tears proved to be tears of joy. Dowsing sig-nals had led Celest to her Tutu. She and her friend had followed their compass, counting paces. Celest told me she had whistled a familiar song when they reached five hundred paces, and Tutu flew down to her a short while later. Soon the bird was again sit-ting on her shoulder at home.

The crisp hundred dollar bill that Celest sent as a thank you – the only one I’ve ever received by mail – was given over to the roofer, but he never knew the miracle dowsing story that lay behind it. And Celest’s letter of documentation which accom-panied this wonder-filled recollection has pushed any visions of squashed birds far from my mind. Indago Felix, indeed!

Bruce Irwin serves on the ASD Board of Trustees.


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Ed. Note: The Water District news release headline below is the real McCoy. But, it would not have been possible without the 1951-1966 ef-forts of ASD master dowser Verne Cameron.

For Immediate Release, January 22, 2010“Lake Elsinore Water Level at Optimum”1

In a news release dated January 20, 2010, Lake Elsinore city officials said that after a recent stormy week, the lake rose one foot to 1240.3 feet, bringing it to its optimum elevation for recre-ational purposes. On a regional website called Rocky Mountain Recreation, it is claimed that Lake Elsinore is the largest natural freshwater lake in Southern California, and the fishing is fabulous! According to Rocky Mountain Recreation2, Lake Elsinore boasts a modern boat launching facility, a Camp Reservation Sys-tem, over 180 RV and tent sites, jet ski rentals, a skydiving center, and motocross park, resort and casino, plus eleven wineries, an historic downtown open-air market, and a new PGA golf course.2 It would appear that this thriving city of 28,000 residents pros-pers, at least in part, due to its fine natural attraction and name-sake, Lake Elsinore itself. However, the jewel that is Lake Elsinore did not always shine so brightly. Due to an upstream dam project launched dur-ing the late 1920s, the lake gradually began losing water to the tune of 50 billion gallons per year. With no solutions in sight, the beleaguered lake continued losing water at this rate, totaling 4-l/2 feet per year, until 1950 when, quite literally, it was bone dry! With the exception of scattered vernal pools that bred a massive population of mosquitoes and gnats, the precious water was gone. The foul smell of rotting algae blanketed the entire re-gion. One ambitious solution was approved by the city, but it failed, and not without great expense. Other proposals were re-jected out of hand, either by the city or the state of California.

CALIFORNIA DOWSER RESTORES LAKE AT OVER 16,000/GPM

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It was then that master dowser Verne Cameron, a Lake El-sinore resident and accomplished dowser, began lobbying the city government with his contention that there was more than enough primary water directly below the lakebed to refill the massive six-mile depression where the lake had once provided such joy and prosperity to the area. Mr. Cameron soon combined forces with veteran newspa-perman, Bill Cox, and together they formed The Water For Lake Elsinore Committee to raise money for drilling a test hole. By now, of course, California state geologists and a cadre of state water en-gineers were insisting that drilling a well to refill a six-mile long lake was a foolish waste of money. They warned that absolutely no water would be found unless they drilled into pockets of “trapped water.” These experts also claimed that any trapped water found would, nevertheless, pump dry within three days to a week. Verne held steadfast to his dowsing findings that 6000 gal-lons of water per minute (8,640,000 gallons per day) would be suf-ficient to refill the lake within six to eight months. His contention was that more than this amount would be provided by three wells drilled into earthquake faults directly below the lakebed. As soon as the sum of $5000 was raised, The Water Committee, now con-sisting of Verne, Bill and two nearby ranchers, elected to move forward. The test hole was drilled to 658 feet, and clear, pure wa-ter promptly rose in the pipe higher than the original level of the lake.

Recreation for all and prosperity for the region, a master dowser’s legacy.


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With this proof in hand, the test hole was reamed out to 26 inches, cased, and gravel packed. When the resulting well tested out at 5100 gallons per minute, $200,000 was quickly appropriat-ed by the city for two more wells, both located by Verne Cameron. Both wells came in at 5,600 gpm, though their true capacity will never be known, as 5600 gpm was the peak limit of the pump’s capacity. One of the wells, drilled to 1776 feet, showed only a 50-foot drawdown after extensive pumping–a championship perfor-mance even by today’s drilling industry standards. According to Christopher Bird,3 the ASD’s international ambassador and author of The Divining Hand, California Gover-nor Edmund “Pat” Brown could not officially congratulate Verne Cameron at the dedication of the Lake Elsinore wells because to do so, his aides contended, would deliver a black eye to the geolo-gists and engineers! Such is the way of dowsers, even master dowsers like Verne Cameron. They are saviors when water is desperately needed, and politely relegated to the shadows once the bird is in the cage. C’est la vie!

– CRM, Ed.This article was reprinted from The American Dowser Vol. 21, #2.

References: 1. News Release, http://www.swrnn.com/2010-01-22 2. Web Site, Rocky Mountain Recreation, http// www.rockymountainrec.com/lakes 3. Bird, Christopher, The Divining Hand, E.P. Dutton, New York, 1979

Verne Cameron passed on in 1969, but he will be remembered in our Society forever. An inspiration to our founding fathers and a contributor to The American Dowser, Verne’s description of the Cameron Primary Water Theory can be found in his story reprint-ed in this issue of the Digest, beginning on page 100.

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THE MODERN DOWSER

by J. Scott ElliotThis address was delivered by Major-General J. Scott Elliot, GB., G.B.E.,D.S.O., President of the British Society of Dowsers, at the ASD Convention, Danville, Vt., September 15, 1973. It is reprinted from Vol. 13 #4, November 1973.

he attitude towards dowsing in the United Kingdom is changing. A large number of people are interested in ESP, and dowsing, as part of the ESP spectrum, is accepted as a useful abil-ity by many more people than was the case a short while ago.

The generation that I belong to is skeptical and always asks for proof that dowsing works. On the other hand, the young are open and prepared to "have a try" and use it. Officialdom of all kinds does NOT accept it. Nor does Science, though we have a number of scientists and geologists in our Society.

It is essential that we, as Dowsers, overcome this barrier of officialdom, and I believe we can only do this by successful re-sults. To achieve this, I suggest we must cut out inefficient dows-ing as far as is possible, and so demonstrate by accurate work by qualified dowsers, that dowsing not only works but can be useful, and in a money-mad world, a saver of time, labour and money.

It is with this in mind that I speak to you today. What I shall say will be my own views. Some may agree, some may not. If I tread on corns – well, too bad!

What Is Dowsing? My own not very good definition is this: the ability to use a natural sensitivity which enables us to know (by some means we don't understand) things that we cannot know by the use of the

T

Looking Back...

THE MODERN DOWSER


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day-to-day brain, by learning, by experience, or by the five senses.

It is, I believe, a matter of the Mind. I believe there is very little that cannot be found (or found out) by dowsing means.

Distant dowsing enables us to work at any distance round the world, and distance seems to make no difference. This abil-ity has been, I believe, in man from the beginning. I suggest it enabled him in early days to find his water, his food, and his min-erals. It enabled him to know about and communicate with the other members of his tribe at a distance. It also enabled him to travel, knowing his direction. There still are so-called primitive tribes in a few places, who have these abilities today.

This natural sensitivity was much in use in early days, and consequently kept developed. Then as man went on through the centuries, the ability was not needed so much and so tended to become atrophied.

In many religious sects through the ages, this ability to "know" was understood, I believe, by the priesthood and usually kept jealously guarded from the ordinary people. I think it is in the background of the original Christian teaching but has got lost. I always think this is the explanation for the Oracle of Delphi in its original state – a team of dowsers working on people's prob-lems. Later of course it became corrupt and the double answer became the rule. But I do not believe that it could have started on a double-answer basis; it must have produced good work to begin with.

There is the old story of the general who arrived with his army at the bank of a large river. He found his opponent was on the other side with his army. Being undecided as to what he should do, he sent a messenger off to Delphi with this message: "If I cross the river with my army, what will happen?" The reply came back, "A great army will be destroyed." So he was much cheered

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and ordered his army over the river. By nightfall his army was destroyed, and he was a fugitive. There is a lesson for the modern dowser here. It is essential to get the question framed correctly, and this is not always easy.

In more recent centuries western religions ostracised and preached against dowsing practices, and particularly against so-called witchcraft. In consequence, they have been severely re-pressed and even made illegal; hence, further atrophy in man of this sensitivity, through suppression and lack of use.

Now there is a change in outlook. From being black, dows-ing is slowly becoming at least white; and in places, it is even ac-cepted, though in Great Britain, as I said earlier, it is not accepted by Officialdom, nor by Science.

Who Can Dowse? From experience in testing and trying to help people, I would say that somewhere about 10% could be good dowsers. Of the rest, 10% haven't a hope; their sensitivity is too atrophied. Of the remaining 80%, I am sure many could be reasonable dowsers if they wanted to be and if they found a use they could practise and train upon. This latter is absolutely essential.

There are many people who are quite keen and interested, but who have never found a use for their ability, so have never developed their sensitivity. It is from the ranks of these untrained semi-sensitives that, I am sorry to say, much of the harm to the reputation of dowsing comes; for although untrained and unprac-tised, they take on jobs and fail and so bring dowsing into disre-pute.

In the United Kingdom, I say to these folk, either go on, find an outlet, practise and train seriously, or put the pendulums and rods away and just remain interested – and pay your sub-scriptions!!


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There is a very old story that is apt. An old actor met an old "lady of the town" (I suppose we'd say callgirl today) and he said, "Ours are ancient and honorable professions, both spoiled by amateurs." So it can be said of dowsing, sometimes.

What Can Be Done By Dowsing? There is no need to talk to this Society about what can be done by dowsing, but before going on to considering how it works, it is just as well to refresh one's memory of what can be done by ordinary men and women who have developed their sen-sitivity for practical and demonstrable purposes.

I would like to emphasize the word demonstrable. This sensitivity that we work with is a very tricky thing. It is very easy to be misled. Fortunately most of us work with results which are demonstrable, so we know whether our dowsing was correct or not. There are those who work in fields where the results are not demonstrable. How do they know that their dowsing is correct or not? It is very important for beginners to practise and train on work which has demonstrable results, they then know if they are right or wrong.

What can be done by dowsing? I believe there is very little in the physical world that cannot be found by dowsing:

Water – Line of flow, depth, quantity, quality.

Minerals and oil – Location, depth, quantity, quality.

Archaeology (my own special subject) – Location of unknown sites, shape, layout, depth, date, and features like ditches, walls, etc. which can be followed in great detail.

Pipes, cables and drains – Line and depth of these (often a complicated business).

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There are architects in the U. K. who use dowsing means for examining old building sites before rebuilding upon them.

Electricity and Water Boards sometimes use dowsers.

Lost people and lost things. I think this is one of the more dif-ficult fields of dowsing; possibly the difficulty of identification and the time element cause trouble.

Plant and soil treatment.

Animal treatment. I am assured by my friends who work in this field that animals appear to respond more easily than do humans.

Human treatment. Hand healing and medical treatment using dowsing means for diagnosis and the selection of remedies.

There are others. As I said at the beginning, there is little that cannot be found by dowsing. But one fact must be remem-bered. It is essential that the dowser knows the background of the type of work that he is doing. I do not believe in the "Universal Dowser". He cannot know the background to more than a few of the subjects. If he does not know the background, he will make mistakes – stupid mistakes, born of ignorance – or maybe he will not be able to advise his client sufficiently. It is out of these mis-takes and sometimes the lack of know-how that dowsing earns a bad name. If we are to persuade officialdom that we can be of use, we must cut down the mistake factor. To do this, we must be more professional and more skilled; for this we must know the background of our work.

How Does It Work? This is the million-dollar question. Thirty years ago most people seemed to think that things emanated and that the dowser "picked up" the emanations. So much so was this thought, it was


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said that certain kinds of rods and pendulums had to be used for certain jobs. If, for instance, one was looking for lead and carried a lead sample, one was actually attracted to the lead vein. Ideas like this were current and were believed.

Then with the growing use of distant dowsing, or map dowsing as it is more often called, this theory was not enough and some other explanation had to be produced. So it was said to be a matter of the mind. For myself, I think there must be a physical part to it, for it starts in me and ends in the object one is looking for, both physical. But how the gap between me and the object is spanned, I just don't know.

The gap in practice may be a few inches or many thousands of miles, but the feeling, the method and the result is exactly the same for me in every case, whether I am using a map or plan or am on the ground. Undoubtedly it is a matter of the "Mind"; and when I use the word mind in this sense, I mean NOT the brain that is talking to you now, NOT the five senses that are all turned on now in this room, but this dowsing sensitivity that stems from that difficult area variously called the Subconscious and the five, or whatever there are, levels of Consciousness. I do not pretend to know much about that area.

This sensitivity can be trained and developed, but only the owner can do the developing and training.

Samples I believe it is essential to keep dowsing as simple as pos-sible. Samples are in fact only mind focusers. There is no 'relation-ship' between the sample and the object sought. I was brought up on the idea that they were necessary, but found it impossible to get a true sample of a Roman ditch so have done without since, except in certain circumstances.

I find it quite effective to write down on a piece of paper

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what I seek. A true sample of the thing is not necessary.

I went to stay with a geologist whom I did not know. As I got to his house, he left for a meeting, but he said that there was a bed of alluvial tin in the field below the house, if I would like to try my hand. I was new to mineral work then and had never seen alluvial tin before. I went to the field and found what I thought was the edge of the bed and marked it out in detail in about 30 minutes. When he returned he went and looked and said I was correct. He knew because he had pitted across the field and knew where the edges of the bed were.

Another instance of no need for a sample. Recently I was in Scotland and met a couple I know well. The wife asked me to see if I could find a brooch of hers that she had had for 44 years and had lost. I was going back to London the next day, so asked her to let me have details of the loss in a letter. I duly got a letter telling me that she had been out in her garden, a large one, all morning, and enclosed a plan of the house and garden. After that, she had taken her son to Glasgow airport, then had gone on to a hospital, after that had driven home and later noticed the brooch was missing. I did not know the house or garden, nor did I know the brooch, but she described it as like an Argyle Regimental Gap-badge.

In London I went through my routine (mumbo-jumbo, if you like!) and felt that it was in the left extreme back corner of their car. I telephoned at 1100 hours and spoke to the husband who said that the car had been searched twice with a fine comb and now was in a garage in the town for repairs. I urged another look.

At 1600 hours I got a telegram to say that the brooch had been found just where I had said.

I must add that this sort of work is not my normal run, and


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I only accepted the job as I wanted to help.

I repeat that samples are not necessary, but help as mind focussers. I do use them in working with things that require iden-tification, because there are many of them the same, or nearly the same. This applies to people and animals and, to a certain extent, minerals.

I also use samples sometimes when I have to change quickly from one object to another, as it seems to help the mental process. I find that if I begin to feel tired, a sample seems to help.

Shibboleths One reads in books and hears of all sorts of pet ideas and habits of dowsers. Don't wear rubber boots or rubber-soled shoes. Always face west or north when map dowsing. Keep both feet on the ground. Maps must be orientated. Don't dowse before 10 in the morning or after sundown. Some use white to indicate good water, some use black. These are a few.

These are beliefs that are very real to the operators, and they become essential to the folk who believe in them. But they are not necessary. Talking to young dowsers, I warn them about these things that I call shibboleths and urge them to avoid them and keep dowsing as simple as possible.

I was introduced to dowsing with all these beliefs, but I gradually abandoned the lot. I started to do so when I found that I couldn't face the way I had been told to when map dowsing, because of the shape of the room, and I found it didn't seem to make any difference. Then I found that the one place on the map I wanted to work on was always at the far edge, so I started turning the map round to suit myself and found there were no dire results!

No, I don't believe in shibboleths and try to make my work as simple as possible. But don't think that I am trying to wean you

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from yours. All I am suggesting is that young dowsers should be advised to keep it simple and avoid complications.

My Own Way of Working My present way of working is, in broad outline, very simi-lar to that used by a number of practising dowsers in the UK. I say present way because I am aware of changes of method over the years, and one may change again.

Most of my work is in archaeology, though I have worked a little in oil and minerals and in the finding of lost people and lost things. When I have a problem to solve, I like to get all pos-sible information available and think it over. This is what I call the Brain Appreciation. Then when I start to dowse, I switch off the brain and the five senses and switch over to the "mind” and allow that to do the work.

I like to do Stage 1 of the job at home. This is the distant dowsing work on a map, or plan, or by question and answer. In this stage the bulk of the work is done, and great detail can be achieved; in most cases, far more accurate detail than could be achieved on the ground.

Stage 2 is on the ground and is to check the accuracy of the Stage 1 results. This is a necessary stage and one I don't like having to omit. Funny things happen. Long ago I thought I had found a nice rectangular archaeological site when map dowsing. It was in the right sort of position, and when I went there to do the Stage 2 work, I found that there was a small town reservoir there, just the size I had picked up!

Stage 3 is digging to prove, or whatever is the appropriate method of proving the dowsing. Perhaps this system is best illus-trated by actual instances.

Swinbrook. I was told by a lady that she thought that there


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might be an archaeological site in her garden. I did not know the garden, so one day I went to see it. Nothing showed on the sur-face. It looked a most unlikely location for an old site as it was down in the flat floodplain of the river Windrush, which some-times did flood and must have done so more in days gone by, and there was better ground not far away. I did not work with the rod as I prefer to do the map dowsing first. I did take away with me part of a 1/2500 map. This I enlarged and, much to my surprise, the map dowse showed a rectangular site some 35 ft. by 60 ft. I must say I didn't believe this, as all sorts of things cause one to make mistakes at this period, and around houses it is easy to pick up ditches with drains and cables, etc. in them. However I went down again and went over the site with my rod. Sure enough, I got the same picture. This was the end of Stage 2.

Stage 3 is dig to prove. The owner was keen to dig up the lawn under where the site appeared to be, so a little later we put down a radial cut across what appeared to be the edge of the site, and in a very short time began to find medieval pottery, and bones in large quantities for a cut only 4 ft. by 10 ft. In the end we found a couple of post holes which finally clinched the fact of a lived-on site.

To cut a long story short, later in the year we carried out quite a big partial excavation and found five floors, part of two walls, many post holes, and a large quantity of pottery and other artifacts. I should have said that I always try to date every site by dowsing means before doing anything about them. This one I had dated at the time of the map dowse as A. D. 1125. When the pot-tery was examined, it was identified as mainly 11th century with a little 12th century, so the dowsing was pretty accurate.

Take another instance. In my old home, the kitchen was up against an outside wall which was sandstone, and the flue from the Esse cooker went up to the chimney by a long dog-legged flue. The chimney had fairly recently been swept when the Esse began

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to play up and wouldn't draw. I thought there must be a blockage of some sort, so I drew a picture of the run of the flue and pro-ceeded to map dowse it. I got signs of a blockage at a point about 4 feet above the elbow in the flue. The local builder was a friend of mine, so he came along and took out a large sandstone where I told him to. Having done so, he put his arm into the flue, fiddled about a bit, then produced the dead body of an owl!

Tools There is no need to speak to you of the tools of your trade, but there is one aspect I would like to mention. I use a rod for outdoor work and a small pendulum for indoor, both simple. I can use my hands alone, and on occasions my mind alone.

My own view on tools is this. A properly trained dowser knows the answer to the problem in his Mind. But it is easier to convert this to something he can see, something visual. So he uses rod and pendulum. It used to be thought by some that the rod in the dowser's hand was pulled down by the water or whatever he was seeking. In fact, it is the dowser's Mind which knows when what is sought is under the dowser's feet, or his pendulum, and which operates the muscles which make the rod or pendulum give the appropriate movement in accordance with his code. It is this which makes it so essential for the question in the dowser's mind to be appropriate and clear.

Healing and Medical Work I do not propose to say much on these subjects, as this is a lecture in itself.

Healing. I find often that dowsers are natural hand healers. I have a little ability in this way myself.

Medical work. In the U. K., there are a number of quali-fied doctors who use dowsing means and methods to help with diagnosis and with the selection of remedies. I believe there is a


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wide future in this, and I wish the acceptance of these methods could be speeded. My own feeling is that there are many good doctor

quarterly digest 50 springsummer.pdftop-notch dowser, raymon grace, will be presenting at...

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